Olatunji is first Nigerian and third African to score and assist on UEFA Champions League debut

According to OptaJoe, Nigeria’s Victor Olatunji is the third African player to score and assist on his UEFA Champions League debut, after Daniel Cousin in 2007 (for Rangers vs Lyon) and Serge Aurier in 2015 (for PSG vs Shakhtat Donetsk).

The 25-year-old is also the first Nigerian player to do so as well as the 37th to score in the history of the competition.

He scored his club, Sparta Prague’s second goal in their 3-0 defeat of visiting RB Salzburg of Austria.

Olatunji is also the 16th Nigerian to have scored once in the competition, joining the likes of Celestine Babayaro, Daniel Amokachi, Austin Okocha, Chinedu Obasi and Victor Moses.

Meanwhile, Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface will also be keen to make it a scoring debut for his side when they face Dutch Eredivise side, Feyenoord at de Kuip on Thursday in their opening group game of the UEFA Champions League.

Boniface is in good form ahead of the match after opening his Bundesliga goal account for the season and an assist in the 4-1 win at Hoffenheim.

Atalanta hero at the weekend, Ademola Lookman will also be keen to score his first goal of the competition in his first game since 2019.

The Nigerian was the hero last season for the Bergamo-based side when he netted a hat-trick to win the club’s first ever European title.